‘Lahe-Lahe‘ (take it easy) approach to life is often blamed for lack of progress in Assam and elsewhere in the Northeast.
But a tourism entrepreneur wants to market ‘Lahe-Lahe‘ packages for stressed, overworked executives and business managers seeking to get away from the pressures of work for a while.
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Abhra Bhattacharya, whose Adroit Tours is now setting up a community driven tourism resort in far-off Anini in Arunachal Pradesh, plans to offer ‘Lahe-Lahe‘ packages that would enable overworked and stressed executives and business managers a week or a fortnight of complete rest and back-to-nature relaxation.
The resort at Anini is a model project that is built by the local community with available resources. Abhra’s company provides guidelines for design and will run the resort when it is ready.
Profits will be shared between his company and the local tribal community. Locally available wine (from rice to kiwi) and organic food will only be used for tourists.
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“If this model works, I plan similar resorts elsewhere in the Northeast like Nagaland and Mizoram. Indian businessmen blame local tribal customs and laws for lack of entrepreneurship in the region but there is no problem if a company does joint venture with the community by treating it as a business partner,” Abhra Bhattacharya told Northeast Now.
Bhattacharya has long experience in the region as a nature and wildlife researcher for leading TV channels like BBC, National Geographic and Animal Planet.
“My experience in the region convinced me that no business here will succeed without the participation of the community,” he said.
The resort at Anini will provide enough nature and leisure activities like fishing, trekking and wellness.
“The idea is to cut the tourist from the rest of the world and transport him to the world of the locals who are at ease with their surroundings. It is to take them away far from the madding crowd,” Abhra Bhattacharya said.
His tours company sees top business firms as clients. “I can provide their executives time-sharing packages.”
Tourism has huge potential in Northeast but the region gets only one percent of tourist arrivals to India.